


eitilt

by goukyorin (sashimisusie)



Series: codependency in c minor [2]
Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 17:44:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1109741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sashimisusie/pseuds/goukyorin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looking down at the ground, Valkyrie told herself that she’d fallen from higher steps than this. After all, she’d made a promise to herself to make Skulduggery teach her how to do this, and there was no way she was going to back down now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	eitilt

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place between the first two books, and more or less directly inspired by the following lines in book one:  
> “He brought up his arms up by his side and out in front, and a tremendous gust of wind buffeted him over to the rooftop. Stephanie promised herself that one day, she'd get him to teach her how to do that.”

Valkyrie Cain looked out of the passenger-side window, resisting the childish urge to press her nose against the glass as she took in the view of what was looked like an ordinary car lot. But having lived twelve years without even realizing the magic that lay behind ordinary things, it might not be as normal as she thought it was.

She eyed the empty lot critically, even sweeping a glance up at the streetlights. It was to Valkyrie’s senses, most definitely an ordinary parking lot. The lot didn’t even have the decency to have any other cars, and the rundown-looking booth that was the sole standing structured looked like it had seen more use in better days.

“This is a parking lot,” Valkyrie said pointedly, not quite getting what this had anything to do with flying. Or magic.  
Skulduggery simply nodded back, “We’re in a parking lot.”

He parked the Bentley, turning off the engine and popping the keys into his neatly-pressed coat with one smooth motion as if he’d had done it a thousand times. Knowing him, it was probably more than that.

Undeterred, Valkyrie continued her line of questioning, wincing a little as she slammed the car door a little too heavily behind her as she followed Skulduggery across the tarmac, “Does it have a secret entrance that goes somewhere magical?”

“No, it does not.”

“Is there detective stuff hidden in a secret compartment in the booth?”

“No,” Skulduggery tilted his head up at her as he helped her up onto the roof of the booth. From the sound of his voice, Valkyrie swore he rolled his eyes if he had any in his empty eye sockets.

She held out her hand to help him up before crossing her arms expectantly. “OK,” Valkyrie said, “We’re on a roof someplace between Haggard and Dublin. What’s the deal?”

“Surprise!” Skulduggery said, spreading out his hands as if giving her a gift, “I’m going to teach you to fly!”

“You brought me here for that? I’ve fallen off stairs higher than this before,” Valkyrie gave him an incredulous look. She had to remind herself that thirteen was too old to pout, “Couldn’t we just have stood on the Bentley or something?”

Skulduggery stared at her, and if he still had eyelids, he’d probably be blinking in disbelief.

She kicked herself mentally for even thinking of suggestion, much less voicing it, “Right, right, on top of a shed in an abandoned car lot it is. So how does this flying thing work?”

He launched into an explanation about the proper application of air in the correct place as if she’d never suggested something so blasphemous as to stand on the Bentley. Connecting the dots between what Skulduggery was saying and what she actually understood, it sounded a lot like simple physics to her.

Valkyrie held up a finger and he stopped mid-sentence, “So what you’re saying is if I push down on these fault lines in the right places, I’ll be pushed up?”

“A bit of a simplification, but that is basically how it works,” Skulduggery nodded.

Valkyrie closed her eyes to concentrate and exhaled slowly, trying to feel the spaces in the air that Skulduggery said existed. Spreading her hands like the first time she’d seen him fly, she felt the coolness of the night breeze against her bare skin. From within the calmness of her mind, she could just feel a hint of air pushing up against her palms.

“I think I get it,” Valkyrie said, and before Skulduggery could so much as stop her, she stepped off the roof with her eyes still closed.

As stepped out into thin air, she half expected to go plonking solidly into the hard ground below, and half hoped to go soaring up. When the former didn’t appear to be happening, she cracked open one eye hesitantly.

“I think you’ve got enough of it,” Skulduggery said, looking down at her hovering an hand’s breadth off the ground, and if it was possible to smile without lips, Valkyrie thought he would have given her a grin.


End file.
